Tag - Mitel

New updates now available for every major Mitel Unified Communications platform

Mitel has announced updates to its flagship Unified Communications solutions to provide organisations more advanced voice, collaboration and contact centre capabilities for enhancing productivity and delivering better customer service.

These latest releases reflect Mitel’s commitment to providing tailored communications and collaboration solutions that drive customers’ digital transformation. Designed to increase speed to innovation, Mitel’s product roadmap also delivers high levels of security and enables businesses to leverage emerging technologies like IoT and AI to solve today’s problems and prepare for tomorrow’s challenges.

The newly expanded capabilities include the following:

MiCollab – multiple customer interface enhancements that make it even easier for employees to talk, meet and share information using Mitel’s leading collaboration offering, a single solution that brings communications and collaboration tools together to simplify the way people work.

MiVoice Business – the addition of a next-generation containerization software architecture to drive speed to market for applications and business efficiency software upgrades for one of the industry’s most advanced mid-market communications solutions.

Mitel SIP-DECT – 4th-generation SIP-DECT technology that brings a new portfolio of base stations and feature enhancements to the full line of Mitel cordless IP and SIP devices, solving companies’ vertical-specific mobile communications requirements.

4Sight is pleased to announce the General Availability of the MiCollab Release 8.1. MiCollab Release 8.1 focuses on enhancing the overall user experience of our suite of Next Generation clients and simplifying how employees talk, chat, meet and share information with others throughout their workday.

MiCollab Release 8.1 focuses on enhancing the overall user experience of our suite of Next Generation clients. Listening to user feedback – internal and external – MiCollab Release 8.1 was designed to improve how employees talk, chat, meet and share information with others throughout their workday, make the communications and collaboration experience for customers’ more seamless, and enhance their ability to work effectively from anywhere, at any time.

Mitel 5200 End Of Hardware Support: What You Need To Know
Following our initial announcement about the end of support for the 5200 series set, Mitel have now modified their position to allow these devices to come into service following the MiVoice Business 9.0 upgrade.

Whilst we expect the phones will operate as normal, the 5200 sets will not have the normal support level. Specifically, this means that, should issues arise after the upgrade to release 9.0, Mitel reserves the right to not fix specific issues isolated to the 5200 series sets operation.

For customers who prefer a fully supported configuration, then there are 2 options:

Transition away from the 5200 series sets to the current desktop portfolio for a fully supported solution. See our Mitel 6900 Series Handset Promotion here.

Remain on MiVoice Business 8. Standard Mitel support policy would state that MiVoice Business 8.0 versions including SP’s will continue to be fully supported until the release of MiVoice Business release 10.0 which would be anticipated in mid 2019. At the time of release of 10.0 then the 8.x stream becomes unsupported. However, for customers who request extended support and who subscribe to premium Software Assurance, Mitel will extend support of the 8.x stream until July 2020. This would provide additional time to plan a desktop churn and upgrade once the estate is refreshed

What we think?

Here at 4Sight, we recommend that you transition away from the 5200 series sets to the current desktop portfolio for a fully supported solution. To assist you with your transition, 4Sight is currently offering an exclusive‘4 handsets for 3’ promotion on the most popular phones in the Mitel portfolio! For more information about our offers and to discuss your options, please email info@4sightcomms.com.

Mitel 6900 Series Handset Promotion

When you purchase a new MiVoice Business or when you purchase additional licenses, get a free phone with every third phone purchase.

MiVoice Business Release 9 – Mitel EX Controller
As part of Mitel’s continued commitment to delivering on-site deployments of their communications platforms we are proud to introduce a new hardware variant that will not only be supporting the MiVoice Business call control, but which will also be used in MiVoice MX-ONE and MiVoice 5000 deployments.

The EX Controller will be a complement to the existing hardware family – specifically, the 3300 CX II and 3300 MXe III Controllers remain fully available to customers. Like the existing hardware, the Mitel EX Controller enables both call control and media gateway functionality to run on a single hardware instance.

The Mitel EX controller provides up to a capacity of 1,400 IP users and offers local survivability and PSTN access for analog users. It provides 8 expansion slots which can house cards to connect to TDM trunking services (ISDN PRI, E&M, and R2 T1/E1), analog trunks and analog extensions. Additionally, a DSP card may be required in certain configurations.

It is available in both single and dual power supply versions:

• Single power supply version with 4GB RAM & 60GB SSD – Part Number 50008229• Dual power supply version with 8GB RAM & 120GB SSD – Part Number 50008230

WHAT IS SUPPORTED ON THE EX CONTROLLER?

TDM support for Digital trunks (PRI, T1, E1, R2) and Analog trunks and extensions (FXS, FXO)-It uses IP all the way to the cards which incorporate the E2T gateway functionality-All required E2T resources are incorporated into each card so it is non-blocking-A digital link license (54000303) on MiVB is required for each link and this provides the necessary resources to program the gateway functionality

We are delighted to announce the general availability of MiVoice Business R9.0. With a complete software refresh, delivering platform, security, responsiveness and performance improvements, MiVoice Business R9.0 is available for all installed base customers with active Software Assurance who have platforms that meet the minimum requirements.

PRODUCT OVERVIEW / FEATURES & BENEFITS / DESCRIPTIONMiVoice Business development is firmly aligned with Mitel’s focus on continuous improvement that will deliver innovation, new features to enhance customer interaction and reduce the overall cost of ownership.

SOFTWARE REFRESH FOR MIVOICE BUSINESS MiVoice Business Release 9.0 includes a significant refresh of the software to deliver Total Cost of Ownership improvements. It is designed to facilitate enhanced system performance, a simplified process for the deployment of patches/security updates as we go forward and the delivery of an infrastructure ready to evolve to next-generation networks.

Native Linux deployment: release 9 will run natively in a Linux environment by utilizing C and C++

Improve responsiveness and deployment of changes (patches, security updates): A simplified process for the deployment of patches/security updates. Update individual software components rather than the whole software load

Available on CX(i)* II, MXe III*, Virtual, Software only and new EX Controller in initial release (AX, MiVB Express, MiCD to follow

NEW FEATURES:1. Caller ID Based RoutingTo allow customers better manage calls, Mitel have created a whitelist/blacklist capability which can route specific incoming callers (based on calling line ID).

Whitelist – the calling line ID can be used to provide a white glove service to route known contacts to specific users or groups of users to help ensure optimum customer service.Blacklist – unwanted calls can be routed either to a message only mailbox or simply disconnected, thus avoiding staff having to waste time dealing with unnecessary calls.

2. Last Group Member RecallThe Last Group Member Routing (LGMR) feature allows the callers to be connected to the person that they spoke with in the event they have to call back rather than potentially getting connected to another member of the group.

EXPANDED BROWSERSUPPORTMiVoice Business Release 9.0 expands the browser support for accessing the System Admin Tool, it now supports the following:

Internet Explorer

Firefox (36.0.4 or later)

Google Chrome (59 or later)

Microsoft Edge (38 or later)

MIVOICE BUSINESS CONSOLE 9.0Microsoft Windows 10 support has been expanded to include the following:

The following platforms will receive access to the new features, capabilities and software refresh as part of the MiVoice Business 9.1 release. Customers who run a MiVoice Business network of differing controllers will be able to utilise a mixed network of MiVoice Business releases until this time:

Please note MiVoice Business software must be at release 6.0 or newer to be migrated to Release 9.0.

NOT SUPPORTEDAs stated in the past the 5200 sets will not have the normal support level. This means that, should issues arise after the upgrade to release 9.0, Mitel reserves the right to not fix specific issues isolated to the 5200 series sets operation. Click here for more information.

Any customers who continue to have such equipment in their network will not be able to upgrade to MiVoice Business Release 9.0 until those items are removed.

As one of the few early adopters, 4Sight has been running version 9 of MiVoice Business for some time now. Having gone through the development and testing process of the release with Mitel, we have a great understanding of its functionality and capabilities. As such, we would like to emphasise that this a completely new software, which unlike previous releases, requires an individual approach and specific prerequisites to be met. If you are interested in upgrading please contact your 4Sight Account Manager as soon as possible to schedule your upgrade in.

Mitel MiVoice Business R9.0

To find out more about MiVoice Business click here. If you are interested in MiVoice Business Version 9 upgrades, please call us on +44 (0)20 3668 0444 or email info@4sightcomms.com.

Mitel is is giving businesses more ways to provide intelligent customer experiences through the introduction of MiCloud Engage Contact Centre – an over-the-top CCaaS solution.

We are pleased to announce that Mitel has launched a new contact-centre-as-a-service platform – MiCloud Engage. Designed to enable exceptional customer experiences anywhere anytime – MiCloud Engage is the highly secure, true multi-tenant, and instantly scalable multi-channel CCaaS platform.

Described as entirely over-the-top with no software or equipment to deploy, MiCloud Engage is available as a stand-alone offering. It works with any call control platform and integrates with a wide range of third-party CRM applications. The solution powers omnichannel communications enabling businesses to deliver a seamless experience across all touchpoints including voice, web chat, SMS and email channels, and social media. MiCloud Engage combines innovative technologies with deep analytics and real-time reporting, allowing users to make data-powered decisions across every part of their business. The solution also supports remote workers, including a fully-virtualised workforce, and is easy to administer. Rapid scalability gives seasonal businesses the option of scaling up or down simply and quickly to accommodate demand.

Changes in customer behaviour and emerging technologies are reshaping the customer experience. Are you keeping up?

The face of the contact centre has changed dramatically over the past few years and continues to change at an exciting and rapid pace. This is the result of new technologies, ever-changing customer behaviours and a fundamental shift from focusing on traditional customer satisfaction measures to creating a customer experience.

How do you keep pace with your customers while creating quality customer experiences? With contact centre technology.

The following five contact centre trends — which span emerging technologies, changing customer behaviours and customer experiences — are must-knows to help you stay competitive.

Contact centres are shifting from cost centres to revenue generators.

Contact centres have historically been treated as cost centres. The company’s profit margins financed the contact centre—which might have only indirectly contributed to profits.

However, as contact centre concept has evolved and matured, we’ve realized that contact centres are more responsible for generating revenue than we ever knew. For example, an inbound customer support team does not directly drive company profits. But if that team delivers poor customer service experiences, the resulting negative social media and bad press could lead to a significant decline in sales.

To realize their contact centre as a revenue generator as opposed to a cost centre, businesses must ensure their operations are cost effective—that queues and trunks are well-occupied, that they have the right number of agents answering calls and that calls are being handled efficiently. Businesses also need to verify the performance of their telecom systems, who agents are speaking with and whether money is being well spent. With the right contact centre tools, businesses can do just that.

Accurate forecasting, scheduling and reporting tools ensure resources are effectively deployed at all times. Real-time alarms inform supervisors of performance issues and inefficiencies so they can act immediately to maintain service levels and control costs. With the right reporting metrics, contact centre supervisors can easily compare Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) like average handle time, service level or cost per call. Then, they can analyse these KPIs in the context of new sales, customer retention and customer satisfaction. These measures can prove how a contact centre can be a profit centre.

A new generation of customers is changing the way enterprises do business.

Generation Y-ers, also known as the Millennials, were the first to grow up with computers in their homes, and they are by far the most tech-savvy generation yet. Within the next 10 years, Millennials will represent the majority of the workforce.

This generation is success-driven, goal-oriented, determined, confident and highly technology dependent. These are all exciting qualities, but they also make this generation highly demanding as consumers. They expect quality service, they expect it now, and they like things short and sweet because they’re excellent at multitasking.

This has led to a fundamental shift in the way enterprises do business—rather than nurturing long-term brand loyalty, they need to be able to serve the desire for instant gratification.

So, how can businesses better serve Millennials?

Provide robust information. Millennials are not afraid to do their research, and they know where to find the answers they need. As a result, information needs to be readily available to them, easy to find and highly educational or entertaining.

Be available. Millennials are online day and night, and in this 24/7 world, they expect businesses to be the same. They want to be able to access your business when they want to—and through the channel of their choosing.

Be social. Millennials are not afraid to share the things they like (or dislike). They live on social media, and will reach you through social media platforms. Be present and be part of their conversations.

Contact centres are updating and enhancing outbound technology and resources for maximum productivity.

The contact centre industry has always been focused on handling incoming calls and contacts. And historically, contact centre solutions were designed to channel, monitor and improve the performance of agents as they dealt with increasing inbound volumes.

With the growth of contact centres has come the rise of the outbound contact centre. Previously, inbound and outbound contact centres served two unique customer bases. Inbound contact centres managed incoming sales and support inquiries, whereas outbound contact centres were typically limited to collections and telemarketing. However, as contact centre solutions became more robust and feature-rich, businesses saw the value of the blended contact centre.

In the blended contact centre, agents can both make and receive calls and multimedia contacts by combining Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) for incoming calls with predictive dialling for outbound calls. This optimizes agent productivity by ensuring that agents do not sit idle between calls. Increasingly, inbound agents are being used to notify customers of changes to their accounts, payments due or appointment reminders. Customers can choose to receive these notifications by voice telephone calls, SMS text or email, which results in a reduction of inbound call volume, a boost in customer satisfaction, and ultimately, lower operating costs.

Businesses are benefiting from the efficiencies of unified call centre software suites.

In the past, contact centre solution providers have focused on one core solution—whether it was ACD, outbound dialling, multimedia handling or workforce management and optimization.

However, over time, the demand for unified suites has grown, and software vendors have responded to that demand. This optimizes efficiencies at all levels, from the contact centre agent to the IT administrator.

With a suite, agents can take advantage of a unified desktop experience for all key contact centre applications. Supervisors benefit from a unified reporting interface for all mediums and contact centre tools, from agent KPIs, to outbound campaigns, to IVR call flow use, to inbound and outbound multimedia contacts. With a unified suite of contact centre solutions, businesses use one vendor instead of many and can lower their total cost of ownership (TCO) while maximizing their return on investment.

A 2012 survey revealed that 34 percent of businesses were using cloud-based contact centre software.* This number is on the rise, with an additional 28 percent indicating they had plans to deploy a cloud-based contact centre solution. This means that by the end of 2013, six out of 10 contact centres will be based in the cloud. Because of their lower upfront costs and easy scalability, cloud based contact centres are ideally suited for “pop-up” or seasonal contact centres—for example, a contact centre that is designed to handle inquiries during tax season.

Cloud-based contact centres have seen dramatic growth in recent years because they are flexible, affordable, dynamic and efficient. With a cloud-based contact centre, businesses gain the flexibility to quickly deploy key contact centre applications and provision adds, changes and removals to key devices programmed on the system, often without ever having to have an IT administrator or installer on site. Cloud contact centre applications are also highly affordable, because a large capital investment is not required for initial IT and telecom infrastructure. This lowers the TCO of a contact centre solution and ultimately provides a much more rapid return on investment ROI.

Cloud-based contact centres are also dynamic—giving users the ability to quickly scale up or down in size to tailor to their ever-changing business needs. Finally, cloud contact centres are highly efficient, as businesses only pay for the services they use. This is another key factor in lowering TCO and maximizing ROI.

But a 100-percent cloud-based contact centre isn’t always the best option for businesses. You need to consider:

Depending on these considerations, you may decide that an on-premises or hybrid solution is the best fit for your business.

For many of today’s businesses, a move to the cloud is just a matter of time. Choosing a phased approach with an early focus on your phone system is a smart choice, and tapping the expertise of a cloud phone service provider can make it an even smarter one.

Follow the Trends to Success

These are just a few of the most popular trends in customer experience and contact centre operations right now, but by leveraging even a few of the trends highlighted in this paper, your business can: minimize operating costs and increase revenues; simplify contact centre administration, configuration and management; and drive enhanced, quality customer experiences.

The business world is aggressive and rapidly changing and customers are constantly expecting more. What are you going to do to keep your customers happy, you’re your competition and grow your business?

Despite growing adoption rates, many companies still aren’t ready to make a full-scale move to cloud-based technologies. If you are among those who want to take a measured approach to cloud adoption, look no further than your phone system as a great place to start. By working with a communications provider who offers both cloud and hybrid phone systems, you’ll not only get expert guidance, but also the flexibility to customise a migration path that fits your business.

For many businesses, the phone system is the ideal service to serve as a catalyst in your transition to the cloud. Since it can be deployed in a phased approach, you can learn by transitioning small groups, teams or locations one at a time with little overall risk. Plus, you can also lean on the expertise of your service provider since most cloud vendors have helped countless other companies through similar transitions.

Beyond the initial implementation, businesses can also learn how to manage overall cloud applications from their service partners. They offer expertise your company may not have internally, making them an ideal resource to help you build a path to the cloud.

2. You Have the Flexibility to Embrace the Cloud Fully, or Bit by Bit

Not only can deployments be phased, but moving your business communications to the cloud doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing proposition. You can choose a full cloud deployment or start with a hybrid approach that combines both cloud and onsite solutions. Hybrid solutions allow you to mix and match communications applications as you need them, and give your company the flexibility to deploy only what your business requires today, while keeping the option open to add additional cloud services or locations later.

3. You Can Make Smarter Use of Internal Resources

A system provider with cloud expertise can help you make better use of your internal IT resources. With a cloud deployment, applications are hosted remotely and maintained by the provider, relieving IT of most or all network-related tasks. The business then consumes the services on a subscription basis rather than owning the infrastructure. In this model, the cloud provider manages the extra workload while freeing your IT team to focus on the initiatives that drive revenue for your business.

4. You Can Gain the Buy-In You Need to Move Forward With Other Cloud-Based Solutions

For any deployment to be successful, it must have buy-in from users. By focusing on your phone system early in your migration, you can introduce employees to the cloud’s many time-saving, productivity-enhancing benefits of the cloud. As their comfort grows, your ability to transition other systems and processes to the cloud will become easier. A provider with a reputation for excellent customer service and training options will help you quickly get buy-in from your employees.

For many of today’s businesses, a move to the cloud is just a matter of time. Choosing a phased approach with an early focus on your phone system is a smart choice, and tapping the expertise of a cloud phone service provider can make it an even smarter one.

Migrate to the Cloud

4Sight offers a range of Mitel Cloud Communication products and applications that enable fast access to real-time management information and productivity enhancing tools. To find out more about our Cloud Solutions click here.

If your current phone system is only giving your staff basic functionality like phone, fax and voicemail, you could be losing money to estate agents whose communications tools offer employees advanced collaboration capabilities like file sharing, virtual video tours and task management, all of which improve the ability to close deals.

Use the checklist below to determine if your phone system is differentiating your business and empowering your agents. If you answer ‘no’ to multiple of these considerations, it might be time to consider making a switch.

Does your current phone system:

1. Help you beat the competition by connecting clients to an agent the first time they call using follow-me-anywhere technology?

2. Allow agents to use their office phone number from anywhere, across multiple devices?

Delayed and untimely communications between clients and agents means lost revenue. If your agency is using an outdated phone system that doesn’t deliver the type of functionality outlined above, then you’re likely losing out to other agencies. With a more robust communications and collaboration system, you can empower agents to work more efficiently, deliver exceptional service to buyers and sellers, and close more deals.

4Sight Communications is excited to announce that specified web-based (online) end user training courses for MiVoice Business from Mitel University are now included as a subscription entitlement within Mitel Premium Software Assurance.

There are no additional fees for this inclusion. Courseware pertains to MiVoice Business and specific applications as defined in the section below. This program change is effective immediately for existing and new Premium SWA subscriptions.

How does it work?
The training subscriptions will be managed within Mitel University on a per customer solution basis and will be co-terminus with Premium SWA subscriptions. The training entitlement behaves like any other Mitel University training subscription, with unlimited usage of the courseware by end customer users.

Training suscriptions are:
• Managed on a per customer solution basis with the Partner of record in the Mitel Licensing Server (e.g. AMC)
• Provisioned in the Mitel Absorb Learning Management System via a unique subscription key that is valid until expiry (coterminus with Premium SWA)
• Renewed with Premium SWA renewals

Who can qualify?To qualify for the training susbription, the existing Premium SWA subscriptions must have at least 90 days remaining on the term. At Software Assurance renewal, if a training key already exists a renewed key will automatically be sent to 4Sight Communications when Premium Software Assurance is renewed.

Course List Included in Premium SWA Training Subscription:

For more information please contact your 4Sight Account Manager alternatively you can call us on +44 (0)20 3668 0444 or email info@4sightcomms.com.

4Sight Communications are highly experienced Mitel specialists. Whether in the cloud or in the cabinet our dedicated team of experts have been designing, implementing and supporting Mitel solutions for some of the most successful companies and organisations in the UK for over 25 years. Our comprehensive service offerings are a "game changer" for our clients. Delivering reliability and performance in a single affordable package without geographical boundaries.